June 1, 2012 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (AIAA Foundation) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2012 AIAA Student Technical Paper Competition in the Undergraduate division. Each first place winner received $500 and an invitation to the AIAA Foundation International Student Conference, held in conjunction with the 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, January 7–10, 2013, at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center, Grapevine, Texas, where they will compete for a prize of $1,000. Each second place finisher received $300, and third place finishers received $250.

Prize winners were:

Region I, Mid-Atlantic: first place: Elena Shrestha, University of Maryland; second place: Harrison Chau, University of Maryland; third place: Gino M. Perrotta, University of Maryland.

Region II: first place: Tibor Pechan, Mississippi State University; second place: Hisham Ali, University of Alabama; third place: William McGinnis, Auburn University.

Region III: first place: Jessica Arlas, University of Michigan; second place: Leslie Sollmann, University of Dayton; third place: David Schwertner, University of Michigan.

Region IV: first place: Monica Hew, University of Texas at Arlington; second place: Mark Ehrhart, University of New Mexico; third place: Jason Haynes, University of Arkansas.

Region V: first place: Carlos Maldonado and Ryan Bosworth, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; second place: Ryan Kolesar, United States Air Force Academy; third place: Mark Boyer and Cody Deacon, United State Air Force Academy.

Region VI: first place: Braden Hancock, Brigham Young University; second place: Kenneth Low, University of Washington; third place: Bryan Hopkins, University of Washington.

The AIAA Foundation has a simple, compelling philosophy that drives our commitment to math, science, and technology education: make it exciting, make it empowering, and make it fun. The AIAA Foundation offers a wealth of resources to support STEM educators from K–12 through the university level: scholarships, classroom grants, design competitions, and student conferences, improving scientific literacy and advancing the arts and sciences of aerospace. For more information on the AIAA Foundation and its programs for students, teachers, and professionals, visit www.aiaafoundation.org.

AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.